


Long Gone Day

by Kiukumbeer



Category: Monster (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Coffee Shops, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, ill probably add more tags as i go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiukumbeer/pseuds/Kiukumbeer
Summary: Wolfgang Grimmer opened his coffee shop a few years ago to get a new start. He was independent but loved to talk to everyone he met. One day a college professor with a very pleasant smile stumbled upon his shopOr, an au in which Grimmer owns a coffee shop and Tenma teaches at a med school.
Relationships: Wolfgang Grimmer/Tenma Kenzou
Kudos: 14





	Long Gone Day

"That will be 1.30 euros, please"

The customer smiled back at Grimmer as he lent her back the change.

"Thank you!" Her smile was sincere and made Grimmer smile even wider before she went for the door.

He checked the clock on the wall. 4:25 pm. It had been quiet today; not that it usually wasn't. The coffee shop wasn't that popular per se, however it was less than usual. Then again, it was Wednesday which was the day he usually got the least amount of customers. Grimmer walked away from the counter and started to wipe the tables as he silently hummed along to the song playing from the radio.

The shop wasn't too big but not too small. It was just the right size. Sure, it felt too small sometimes during rush hour but really that wasn't too much to complain about. It had been around 2 years since he first opened it. Had it been a pain in the ass at first? Yes. Was it worth it though? Definitely. 

It had been- and still was- a way of starting over. He looked out of the storefront to the pedestrians walking by. They all had a place to be, a destination to end up at probably. He switched his focus back to cleaning. He had always loved baking and especially meeting new people. He loved to imagine what their life was like. Who they were, what they'd done, what they'd gone through. 

He didn't actually have to clean the tables since there had been little to no customers that day. He found himself nitpicking; the place really didn't need to be cleaned but he didn't have anything else to do.

The walls were green, the wallpaper having light-green accents. He had hung up maps and paintings on the walls from places he had visited before. It gave a homey-feeling to the place. Since he had quite a lot of freetime, he managed to get away with having a few plants without them dying on him. He figured the tables were clean enough for him to move on to watering the plants. 

Even though the shop was empty he could still hear voices from people walking by outside and the radio quietly playing. It was nice, nothing too loud nor too quiet. Though he did love hearing the chattering from his customers, he had to admit it was nice to just be by himself sometimes and appreciate the small things. Like the low humming of the AC or the faint smell of coffee beans that he'd gotten well used to at this point. Hell, even the sound of the bell over the door chiming. 

Wait, the bell chimed.

Grimmer turned around to greet the customer, his wide smile plastered on his face. "Welcome! What can I do for you this lovely afternoon?" 

"Ah, thank you. I'd like a double espresso, please". 

"Coming right up!"

The man looked to be only a few years younger than he himself. He had black hair that was way overdue for a haircut. He seemed exhausted but that didn't keep him from having a gentle smile on his face. Grimmer started on his drink as he thought he recognized the song playing on the radio. What radio station was this again?

"There you go! That will be 2 euros, please"

The man quietly paid for his drink before sitting down at one of the tables near the storefront. 

_Huh_ , Grimmer thought. He had never seen the man before, yet here he was ordering coffee and actually sitting down to drink it in the shop. The man pulled out a laptop and a notebook out of his bag. He couldn't be here to study right? No, he was way too old for that. Work, maybe? Yeah, probably. Grimmer found himself keeping an eye on him while trying to do what he usually does. The man was wearing a white shirt, a pair of black slacks and a bit more formal coat. He was reading something from his laptop at the same time as he was taking notes in his notebook. A teacher maybe? There was a college nearby, right? He shook his head, trying to come up with something better to do.

 _The dishes_ , he thought. He walked past the counter to a door at the back of the shop which led to its kitchen. 

  
  


About 15 minutes later he could hear the faint sound of the bell ringing.

"Mr. Grimmer?"

He walked towards the door and out into his shop again. At the counter stood a boy in his late teens. He smiled widely, making his dimples show.

Grimmer smiled back at the boy.

"Wim! I didn't think you'd come in today?”

Wim leaned against the countertop, “yeah I know. I just wanted to check up on you, that’s all”

Grimmer looked at the boy. There was clearly a reason why he was here, and Wim was aware of that as well. Neither of them said anything more about it though. They didn’t have to.

”It’s been real quiet today actually, I don’t think there’s much for you to do, unfortunately.”

“I’ll find something to do, don’t worry about me! You need a break anyways, old man” he said a bit jokingly, moving past the counter and into the kitchen before Grimmer could protest. He laughed a bit at the boy's determination before dusting off the top of the counter with his hand.   
  


The rest of the day went by like it usually did. A few more people came by to buy a cup of coffee or some pastries. Most of them just came and went but there was at least a pair of two who sat down and enjoyed their drinks and pastries at the shop. They had been talking about some show, discussing its meaning and plot. Grimmer tried not to eavesdrop too much though, considering he didn’t want to get too spoiled if it turned out to be a good one. 

Wim had taken care of the majority of the customers which had given Grimmer plenty of time to sort out his pantry. He even managed to clean out the fridge before Wim came back into the kitchen.

”I gotta get going now, dad’s probably wondering where I went.” 

Grimmer gave him an understanding smile. “Thank you for your help today, it means a lot”

”Yeah, I know” he smiled back and for a second it almost looked like he wanted to say something more. He quickly opened and shut his mouth before he grabbed onto his coat.

”See you tomorrow!”

Grimmer watched him exit the kitchen. He checked his watch again, 6:45 pm. Time sure went by fast. As he walked back into the shop his eyes landed on to the table near the storefront.

The man from before was still sitting there in the exact same position. If it wasn’t for the additional empty coffee cup, Grimmer probably wouldn’t have believed any time had passed at all. Was he really still working?

Without giving it much of a second thought, he found himself walking over to the table.

He cleared his throat, “excuse me, sir?”

The man looked up from his notes and their eyes met. His were a dark hazel color, staring right back at Grimmer’s blue ones. He got taken aback a little. This man really had polite eyes. 

“Oh- no, excuse me. You’re closing, I assume? I must have completely forgotten about the time.” he started to collect the paperwork he’d sprawled out over the table.

”Ah, no worries! I don’t close up until another 15 minutes or so anyways. There’s no rush,” he gave him another smile before his eyes darted down to the papers he was holding.

”Mind if I ask you what you’ve been working on for so long?”

The man looked a bit surprised at first but he quickly looked back at his papers.

”I’ve been trying to put together a presentation I’m holding for my class on Friday. I _might_ have gotten a little sidetracked though. I started to read through some of my students’ papers instead.” A tired laugh left his lips.

 _I knew it_ , Grimmer thought to himself. “You’re a professor?”

”Yeah, I hold lectures at the college nearby. Medical school.”

He found himself smiling even more at the other's answer. "I see, how's it going then?" Grimmer looked back to the papers. His handwriting was nice, a bit italic even. His eyes landed on the top left of the page where he'd written his name. Dr. Tenma.

"It's moving along quite nicely actually. I still have a lot of work left though, but I'll be fine." Their eyes met once again before the man continued with collecting his paperwork and closing his laptop. Grimmer got back to work and cleaned off the table, taking the man's coffee mugs with him back into the kitchen. When he came back, the man had gotten up from his seat with his bag back on his shoulder. He stood at the door for a second, looking back at Grimmer, before he spoke once again.

"Thank you for the coffee, it was very good" his smile was very gentle, he still looked as tired but he seemed more relaxed than he had been before.

Grimmer breathed out a small laugh, "no need to thank me! I hope to see you again soon" he said with an equally as bright smile. He watched as he left the shop, the door's bell ringing as it opened.

 _Doctor Tenma_ , Grimmer thought. That must be his surname, right? He walked over to the storefront and locked the door before flipping the 'open' sign to say 'closed'. He made sure there wasn't anything that needed cleaning before he went to turn off the lights. He found himself drifting into his thoughts. Who was that man? What did his everyday life look like? He seemed tired, maybe he worked a lot? He would get workaholic customers from time to time. They were always drained and exhausted, craving for some caffeine to keep them on their feet. Most of them would be almost rude, they rarely cared enough to be polite. 

This Tenma, though, was different. He had looked to be even more fatigued than any of the business men that had rolled in lately. Strangely so, he had probably been one of the more polite customers he'd had this month. Maybe he just had good manners, or maybe he just looked naturally like he was on the brink of collapsing. He laughed a bit to himself before walking into the kitchen one last time. He hung up his apron on the wall before heading up the stairs. They were located in the far corner of the room and led up to his own apartment. At first, he thought that it might have been a bad idea, living on top of his workplace. Turns out, it worked out better than he'd imagined. He loved his coffee shop and he loved his apartment so there was nothing to really complain about. 

His place wasn't anything special. He had a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom and a toilet. He turned on the radio before going over to his fridge to reheat some leftovers. They were talking about something on the radio, he tried to follow along in the discussion. Something about an embarrassing story for one of them.

Grimmer closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. He could hear the silent ticking of the clock on his wall and the wind rattling the trees outside his window. The sun was on its way down, making the sky change into a much warmer color. His mind started to wander again, this time deciding to think about Wim. How long had it been? It must have been almost 6 months since he started working for Grimmer. The first time he met the boy was when he was out shopping for groceries. He had been in the front of the line.

  
  


“I’m sorry but you do not have enough money to buy this”. The cashier said.

Grimmer glanced down at the boy’s groceries. He was buying painkillers, a jar of pickles and a few packages of pan pizza.

Wim swore under his breath before muttering a “fine”. He was just about to pick up the things and leave without them when Grimmer intervened.

“I’ll pay what he can’t”.

Both Wim and the cashier looked back at him with a questionable expression, to which he just smiled back at them. 

Grimmer had to pay a total of 9 euros but he didn’t mind. Once they got out of the store the boy looked up to Grimmer with that same confused look from before.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Pay for my stuff! You don’t even know me!”

Grimmer laughed a little, “so what? You obviously needed some help!”

Wim just scuffed back at him but didn’t say more about it. 

“You’re the guy who owns ‘The Magnificent Steiner’, right?”

“That’s me,” he looked back at the boy. “I’ve never seen you there though, how did you know?”

Wim shrugged, “I’ve walked past your shop a few times before.” He became quiet for a second before talking again, “it’s a nice place.”

“Thank you! You should come by sometime. I’ll treat you to a coffee, does that sound good?”

He looked back at Grimmer once more as to protest but he seemed to change his mind fairly quickly, responding with a nod.

“Sounds good.”

“Good! I’ll see you around then.”

“See ya.” Grimmer thought he could see the faintest of smiles on the boy’s lips before they parted ways.

Wim showed up at the shop the day after, and just as Grimmer promised, he got his free drink. Turns out, he wasn’t really a ‘coffee guy’ but he gladly took a cup of tea. Ever since then, he came in to just talk almost every day. After a while he wanted to help around the shop. It was a natural transition and in the end it resulted in Grimmer offering him a job. It did get a little lonely sometimes, Grimmer thought, so hiring Wim had been a good choice.

He came back to reality, back to his kitchen. The sun was gone, how long had he been sitting here for? He got up and washed off his plate, giving the small room a final glance before he turned off the lights. 

Just as he laid down in his bed, he could feel sleep tugging at his consciousness. He didn’t mind though, he was looking forward to tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I really wanted to start a multiple chapter fic but didn't know about what. Then I remembered how much I loved Monster and thus the choice was clear!
> 
> I'll hopefully have the energy to keep this going. I apologize if there are any grammatical errors, english isn't my first language.
> 
> Please check out my social medias:  
> Tumblr: plankos.tumblr.com  
> Instagram: plankos.jpeg


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